Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas was suspended after her fist made contact with Caitlin Clark’s throat.
Published July 1, 2026
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said she was suspended for one game and later received death threats and racial slurs after touching Caitlin Clark’s throat with her fist during last week’s WNBA game against Indiana.
Speaking to reporters at the team’s practice facility on Tuesday, Thomas also criticized WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect the league’s players.
“It’s unfortunate that this has happened in basketball,” Thomas said.
“A lot of people, myself included, didn’t even know that play happened until after the game. Now we’re being painted as thugs. We’re getting death threats. It’s just unacceptable. Things have to change in this league. It’s really disgusting.”
Engelbert issued a statement Tuesday night.
“The WNBA strongly condemns all forms of hate. The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league’s top priority,” Engelbert said.
“We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments and what she and her teammates experienced are completely unacceptable and do not represent the WNBA community. The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all of our players.”
Thomas called the play a “complete accident” but said his main concern was not the suspension. The six-time All-Star said she didn’t know she was being suspended until 10 minutes before it was announced on social media.
“It’s not even about suspension,” Thomas said. “If that’s what they felt they needed to do in that moment, that’s fine. But I think there are a lot of other plays where the same could be said. The biggest thing is our safety.”
“We’re very concerned about our safety on the court, but time and time again, people have threatened our lives. We’ve had our addresses leaked, we’ve had weird pictures posted that have nothing to do with basketball.”
The play, which occurred with 6 minutes and 52 seconds left in the second quarter of Clark’s game against the Indiana Fever on Wednesday, was not deemed a basketball act. In response, the league awarded Thomas two flagrant foul penalties.
The umpires did not call a foul on this play at this time. The WNBA is allowed to review games and reclassify flagrant fouls or classify flagrant fouls that were not called as such during the game.
“People are sending racial slurs and all kinds of things,” Thomas said. “There’s a difference between trolling and hate. The hate we feel for a play that was honestly a complete coincidence, no one even knew it happened. It’s just unfortunate. The league has to do better in this regard.”
Thomas was suspended on Saturday when the Mercury visited the Toronto Tempo.
The Fever reiterated their call for player safety in a statement Thursday.
The two teams had played each other just days before the Thomas Clark incident, and six technical fouls were called and one was ejected. Clark received his fifth technical of the season in that game. The team asked the league to cancel the decision, but the WNBA acknowledged that the technical regulations remain in effect.
“It was awful. The fact that it was a no-call…we had to call it,” Fever coach Stephanie White said after the game. “We came here knowing what happened two nights ago and something like that (expletive) is still happening? Absolutely unacceptable.”
The Mercury and Fever will have a rematch on July 9th in Phoenix.
